Profs. find flaw in climate law

The paper stated that the Kyoto Protocol “does not count CO2 emitted from tailpipes and smokestacks when bioenergy is being used, but it also does not count changes in emissions from land use when biomass for energy is harvested or grown.”

Tim Searchinger, a visiting research scholar and lecturer in public and international affairs at the Wilson School and the Princeton Environmental Initiative, and Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs, collaborated with 11 other prominent researchers to write the paper identifying an important omission in the measurement of carbon dioxide emissions in legislation like the Kyoto Protocol and the Kerry-Boxer Bill.

According to the paper, this omission allows all bioenergy to be treated as carbon neutral, creating “incentives to clear land as carbon caps tighten.” The carbon emissions from burning trees, for example, are not accounted for in climate change legislation, the study found.

The lack of limits on using biomass for energy could thus encourage deforestation, undermining attempts to reduce CO2 emissions.

“Once we realized the error, we had to decide what to do with it, and writing about it was one way to get out the message,” Searchinger said.

The paper grew out of several related studies, one of which was written by Searchinger, Oppenheimer explained. “The rest of us added additional expertise in ecosystems, emissions and emissions policy,” Oppenheimer said.

The process of creating the article involved circulating drafts among the authors, who worked to write and re-write the paper, Oppenheimer explained. Searchinger noted that determining the exact wording of the document was difficult at times.

“It’s kind of easy to state the problem simply and colloquially, but colloquial explanations are not necessarily 100 percent accurate,” Searchinger explained. “When you write something in [a journal like] Science, you’ve got to be completely accurate.”

“Everybody had somewhat different ideas about how to phrase things,” Searchinger added. “It was a productive but painful process.”

Despite this obstacle, Searchinger said, he was “quite happy” with the paper.

“I think everyone is satisfied enough,” he added. Searchinger was the lead author of the study, whose writers are affiliated with various universities.

“It’s a good example of how experts from a bunch of different institutions with various expertise can collaborate to deduce and make recommendations to our political leaders,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s a good example of how universities can be useful on a real-time basis.”

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As governments continue to address the issue of climate change, Searchinger said, the authors would like their results to affect international approaches to environmental issues.

“We hope that it will cause governments to correct the error,” Searchinger said. “That means changes in U.S. climate legislation, that means changes in Europe’s climate legislation, that means changes in treaties. It’s critical that the error be fixed everywhere.”

“If you correct the accounting flaw, then biofuels would be appropriately treated as the [United States] develops its greenhouse reduction program,” Oppenheimer added.